THE NEW YORKER, OCTOBER 9, 2017
5
NIGHT LIFE
1
ROCK AND POP
Musicians and night-club proprietors lead
complicated lives; it's advisable to check
in advance to con rm engagements.
Best Coast
Well before the Times caught on to women in
rock (its recent roundup o front women in
bands like Speedy Ortiz and Downtown Boys
roiled punk circles), Bethany Cosentino was
sticking her tongue out at both gatekeepers and
trend-seekers as the lead for this surf-punk out-
t. The band formed in 2009, and by 2011 it had
stolen the hearts o young girls and boys alike;
on "When I'm with You," an early single, Cosen-
tino's handling o the rich refrain "I hate sleep-
ing alone" was at once grungy and glittery. Best
Coast has since swelled beyond the crusty hooks
o its early work and is currently on tour with
Paramore, but the band has slipped in some head-
lining dates as well. (Rough Trade, 64 N. 9th St.,
Brooklyn. roughtradenyc.com. Oct. 8.)
Kid Cudi
Before the worlds o hip-hop and electronic
music regularly intermingled without friction,
this young rapper from Cleveland carved new
space with self-released singles and mixtapes
that were atypical in both sound (melodic, sparse,
downtrodden) and circumstance (Cudi was bol-
stered by music blogs and social media and un-
concerned with traditional music outlets). Cudi's
way around a phrase and his fearless, i unkempt,
experimentation with dance music and, later,
rock earned him a cult o college-age fans and an
apprenticeship with Kanye West during the re-
cording o West's pivotal "808s & Heartbreak."
Cudi has remained disruptive, shunning the spot-
light and releasing increasingly unpredictable
albums. (SummerStage, Rumsey Play eld, Central
Park, mid-Park at 69th St. summerstage.org. Oct. 6.)
Craig David
This U.K. pop convert has staged a resurrec-
tion that few people could have seen coming, but
which seems all the more tting with each listen
to his songs on the Hot 100. The dots were con-
nected last September, when David performed
his 2000 classic "Fill Me In" on BBC 1, over
the instrumental to Justin Bieber, Diplo, and
Skrillex's smash "Where Are Ü Now." The har-
monies were in key, the drops lined up, and the
studio erupted at the realization that the U.K.
garage sound had sneaked back on air. A video o
the performance racked up four hundred thou-
sand views, and within weeks David had an-
nounced a new album and gone back on tour. His
next record, "Follow My Intuition," cracked the
Top 10 in more than thirty countries this year;
he'd been setting the stage since 2013, when he
started the TS5 party series in Miami, spinning
rave, soul, R. & B., and garage while improvising
live performances. The party comes to Terminal
5 this week. (610 W. 56th St. 212-582-6600. Oct. 7.)
Floating Points
All dance music is an experiment o sorts, as
producers and beat-makers stir up sounds and
samples in the hope o nding the perfect al-
chemy to make the masses bust a move (or at
least bob their heads). Yet Sam Shepherd, the
mastermind behind London's heady Floating
Points project, isn't just a curious listener and
a talented disk jockey: he exes a Ph.D. in neu-
roscience, but has traded the laboratory for the
d.j. booth. The quiet throb o his bubbling elec-
tronic music, most evident on his 2015 début,
"Elaenia," makes it clear that thinking with your
heart may not be so di erent from thinking with
your head. He spins from open to close at this
Gowanus nook. (Analog BKNY, 177 Second Ave.,
Brooklyn. 718-757-6940. Oct. 6.)
Daniel Johnston
The in uence o Johnston's pleading lo- music
has been far reaching ever since Kurt Cobain
donned a shirt touting the singer-songwriter's
un nished album, "Hi, How Are You?," on the
red carpet o the 1992 Video Music Awards.
Johnston has long struggled with schizophre-
nia and an extreme, hallucinatory form o bi-
polar disorder, which has resulted in terrify-
ing manic episodes. (In 1990, while ying in
a two-seater plane piloted by his father, John-
ston pulled the keys from the ignition and threw
them from the window. His father managed to
crash-land safely.) In spite o all this, he has
continued to release albums o disarming emo-
tional power, sung in his honest, bleating lisp.
This summer, following a career that spans four
decades, he announced his nal set o live dates
nationwide. Each show on the tour features
city-speci c backing groups o musicians who
owe a debt to Johnston's music; the New York
band features members o Cibo Matto and Bei-
rut, among others. (Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St.
212-840-2824. Oct. 7.)
Tricky
"Here come the horses to drag me to bed.
Here come the Tricky to fuck up my head,"
David Bowie wrote in an issue o Q maga-
zine in 1995, about this U.K. trip-hopper's
début album. Born Adrian Thaws, Tricky is
certainly o the same otherworldly ilk as his
late critic: his ethereal, deeply dark material
has traced a life shrouded in turmoil. Grow-
ing up without parents---his father was ab-
sent, and his mother took her own life when
he was four---Thaws bounced between grand-
mothers and great-grandmothers before tak-
ing to the gestating blends o break-beat hip-
hop and experimental electronic music that
were writhing in Bristol. He's since released
thirteen albums exploring various knotted
musical identities; his latest work, "Ununi-
form," was recorded in both Berlin and Mos-
cow, and dips into the dense world o Russian
rap. (Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N. 6th St.,
Brooklyn. 718-486-5400. Oct. 9.)
Yves Tumor
Climbing the mirrored stairways o the mul-
tilevel night spot Brooklyn Bazaar, which was,
until recently, home to a Polish banquet hall,
can be a disorienting experience. This is an apt
prelude to an encounter with an enigmatic art-
ist like Tumor, whose work slithers from smeary
ambient music to future soul, psychedelic pop,
and hip-hop. His excellent long-player from
last year, "Serpent Music," announced his com-
mitment to eclecticism and cemented his po-
sition as a major force in contemporary exper-
imental and electronic circles. Last month, he
returned with a new self-released album, "Ex-
periencing the Deposit o Faith." It sustains a
gorgeous melancholy throughout twelve atmo-
spheric, mostly instrumental tracks, but don't
take that as a suggestion to leave the earplugs
at home; Tumor's performances often take the
form o eardrum-rupturing, confrontational
noise music. (150 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn. bk-
bazaar.com. Oct. 6.)
1
JAZZ AND STANDARDS
Joey Alexander
He may be young, but he certainly respects his
elders. At fourteen years old, the preternatu-
rally gifted jazz pianist remains a wunderkind
phenomenon---a tribute to Thelonious Monk
will show whether he's been keeping up with
his homework. Alexander is joined by a rhythm
team that can harness his youthful intensity:
the bassist Charnett Moffett and the drummer
Ulysses Owens. (Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St.
212-576-2232. Oct. 10.)
Art Ensemble of Chicago
There are only two original members still with
the band---the reeds player Roscoe Mitchell and
the drummer Famoudou Don Moye---but the Art
Ensemble o Chicago (now utilizing a cello and
two basses) has, no doubt, continued to expand
its tonal palette and omnivorous stylistic range.
This event is a tribute to a former member, Jo-
seph Jarman, who will perform as a spoken-
word artist. (The Lantern, Lenfest Center for the
Arts, 615 W. 129th St. Oct. 6.)
Jane Ira Bloom Quartet
With the Belle o Amherst as her muse, the so-
prano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom
has fashioned a vibrant, wholly unpretentious,
double-disk project, "Wild Lines: Improvising
Emily Dickinson," which translates both the in-
trospective and the visionary nature o the great
poet into exultant modern jazz. The actor Debo-
rah Rush will again join Bloom's quartet, speak-
ing Dickinson's abiding words. (Jazz at Kitano,
66 Park Ave., at 38th St. 212-885-7119. Oct. 7.)
Hudson
The guitarist John Scofield, the drummer Jack
DeJohnette, the keyboardist John Medeski,
and the bassist Larry Grenadier, heavy hit-
ters all, mosey a bit into classic-rock mode in
their guise as the collective Hudson ensemble.
Spinning its own meditations on such boomer
fare as "Lay Lady Lay," "Up on Cripple Creek,"
and "Woodstock"---as well as apposite origi-
nals---this fabulous foursome extracts inspira-
tion from an unlikely repertoire without pan-
dering to cozy nostalgia. (Rose Theatre, Jazz at
Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th St. 212-721-
6500. Oct. 6-7.)
Nicki Parrott Quartet
Parrott, a formidable mainstream bassist and a
singer o considerable charm, has found a sweet
spot in the repertoire o the late vocal legend
Blossom Dearie, as revealed on Parrott's en-
chanting album "Dear Blossom." Her eshed-
out quartet includes the spirited vibraphonist
Chuck Redd. (Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Broadway
at 60th St. 212-258-9595. Oct. 4.)